


not running from

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flying Doctors
Genre: "The Good Book" spoilers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 18:58:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11675115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: After many years, Gibbo finally comes back to Cooper's Crossing.





	not running from

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: book titles  
> Prompt: Author's choice, author's choice, I'll be Damned.  
> https://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/534484.html?thread=15789268#cmt15789268

"Well, I'll be damned."

Gibbo knows he's back in Cooper's Crossing, not when he drives through town and sees the old familiar buildings, not when he hears the familiar drone of an aeroplane and glances up to the sky. No, he knows he's back when he walks into the Majestic and hears Vic Buckley utter those words, sounding the most Vic Buckley he's ever sounded. At least there's a smile on his face when he says them and Sharon lets go of Gibbo's hand the second she sees Nancy, who is clasping her hands together for sheer joy before taking to her feet, coming around from behind the bar to meet Sharon with a hug. She holds onto Sharon like she's her firstborn which, from what Gibbo remembers of the time that Sharon used to live with the Buckleys, is just about right and the two women are talking at once, laughing and crying and Gibbo knows they're not going to be any use for the next few minutes. 

Vic must know that too because he comes out from behind the bar a bit more slowly than his wife but with the same kind of happy smile. He approaches Gibbo and there's an awkward moment where he extends his right hand towards Gibbo before he remembers that Gibbo doesn't have a right hand to shake any more. It's not the first time that's happened to Gibbo though, so he just holds out his left and to his credit Vic recovers quickly to shake that instead. 

"Good to see you, Gibbo," he says and he almost sounds like he means it. "Both of you." He's looking at Sharon when he says that and it sounds a lot more sincere suddenly. 

"Well, we didn't want to miss the party." Which is only partly true. When the invite had come, via Nancy a couple of weeks ago, Sharon had been the one who'd really wanted to go. Gibbo had been less certain. He hadn't been back in Cooper's Crossing since his accident, first as a consequence of hospital stays and physical therapy and adjusting to his new life keeping him busy. The longer he'd been away, however, the harder it had been to think about going back, seeing the well-meaning smiles, fielding the sympathetic looks and well-meaning questions. Sharon, proving that she was a better person than he had any right to deserve, understood his feelings, hadn't pushed it, and had come back alone to see her family, who didn't exactly approve of their relationship so that had actually worked out a little easier for them. This, though, she'd argued, was different. There would be so many people returning that not all the focus would be on him, he could hide in the crowd. Which was a fair point, he'd conceded, and when she'd held his hand, whispered quietly, "I'd really like us to be there together, David," he'd been lost. 

"We were hoping you'd have a room for us," he continues, shaking off his thoughts. Vic looks sharply at him and, remembering how he'd been years ago, Gibbo quickly holds up his hand, showing off the thin gold band there. "It's ok, we're all legal and above board now." 

Vic lifts one eyebrow, his face suddenly impassive. All in all, Gibbo finds himself preferring the frown of years earlier - at least then he'd known what Vic had been thinking. Now, he hasn't a clue, especially when Vic says, in an equally impassive, if mildly enquiringly tone, "I thought I told you to stay away from her." 

If Gibbo remembers correctly, and he knows he does, Vic had said a damn sight more than that, and in much stronger language too. Still, he has an answer. "You should have told her," he quips and out of the corner of his eye, he can see Nancy and Sharon pulling apart, eyeing up their husbands. "Threw herself at me on my sick bed, she did. Hadn't the strength to fight her off." He hadn't exactly had the inclination either, but that's a story for another audience. 

"Oh please." Sharon comes to stand beside him and she injects worlds of scorn into those two words. Still, her lips are curling and her eyes are dancing as she slips her right arm around his waist, presses herself against his left side and looks up at him. Gibbo finds himself thankful that she hadn't called him "David," because that tone and that look and his full name usually has him kissing her to try to get himself out of whatever trouble he's just gotten into. Or just because he can, which he thinks is a perfectly valid reason. Then again, Sharon very likely knows that which is why she didn't do it. She continues with, "Stop pretending like it wasn't the best thing that's ever happened to you." 

Gibbo drops his arm around her shoulders, pulls her close against him. "Yes, Dear," he says and if the words are teasing, he knows the way he looks down at her, the way he smiles at her, is anything but. Still, Sharon rolls her eyes, even as her smile broadens and her fingers reach up to close around his. 

"Of course you can have a room." Nancy speaks up, gives Vic a look that's decidedly flinty and Gibbo almost does a double take. He doesn't remember ever seeing Nancy look at anyone like that before, but he's seen it on Sharon's face more times than enough. "Can't they, Vic?" 

Vic clears his throat. "Well of course they can, I'm hardly going to make them sleep in the car, am I?" Which is all Nancy needs to hear to have her bustling off to find the book, even if Gibbo is pretty sure she already knows exactly which rooms are empty and which one she's going to give them. 

"Thanks, Vic," Sharon says, stepping forward to hug the older man. "I know we should have called ahead..."

"You don't have to call," Vic tells her and it could be Gibbo's imagination but he swears Vic sounds a little choked up. "You're always welcome here." 

When Sharon pulls back, she kisses his cheek quickly before going over to Nancy, leaving Gibbo and Vic side by side. "Thanks, Vic," Gibbo says. "That means a lot to Sharon." 

Vic clears his throat again. "Well, a man's got to be able to admit when he's wrong, I reckon. And I was wrong about the two of you." 

Gibbo's surprised to find how much that means to him. "You had her best interests at heart," he said and he knows it's true - between the age difference and the race difference, there were a lot of people who still gave them second and third looks, and that was in the city - a small town like Cooper's Crossing was another thing entirely. "I know that." He'd known it at the time too but he'd been so annoyed over being told what to do that he just hadn't cared - it had taken a near death experience and the loss of a limb to make him change his point of view on a whole lot of things. Like his relationship with a certain woman for example. 

Looking across the bar, he grins as he sees her head leaning close to Nancy's, a beaming smile on her face. She looks as happy as he's ever seen her and he's suddenly very glad that they came here. Vic's hand to his shoulder jolts him out of his thoughts. "You look after her?" Vic asks him and Gibbo knows how important the answer to that question is. Luckily, he knows exactly what to say and it's even better because it happens to be the truth. 

"We take care of each other," he says and Vic actually looks impressed by that. 

"Fair enough," he says, with another clap to Gibbo's shoulder, this one strong enough to almost knock him off balance. "C'mon," he says, "let's leave them to it... I'll help you with your bags." 

With that, he's off towards the pub door, but Gibbo takes a minute to look around the place, to see that it hasn't changed a bit in all these years. And then, to meet Sharon's eyes, to smile back at her and know that it's good to be home.


End file.
